Add up you import costs!

These are exciting times we are living in.  The global environment is shrinking.  Import times are getting faster.    Communication is getting better.  And risk is getting GREATER! When the USA economy slowed the world followed. Ten’s of thousands of factories closed in Asia due to this.   Many with deposits in hand for orders that they had offered fabulous prices on just to keep work and money flowing.  Others had college students form “front companies” on the internet to do direct sales at unbelievable prices direct to customers.   Competing directly with their own customers.  Some of these were delivered as promised.   Many times when the orders were delivered they were decided late, product was not the quality of original sample or quote. Other times customer heard from factory saying product is ready to ship please contact their forwarder to arrange shipment. (when all along they thought the price was to USA and thru Customs)

Quotes are just that!   QUOTES!
There are many factors that even well healed and experienced USA promotions companies do not consider in their cost.

1. Who pays the freight charge if you have a sample you need to send to the factory to duplicate?
2. Who pays the freight on samples from the off shore factory?  Is it on your FedEx, DHL, or UPS  account.  (If  so no matter your discount this adds cost to your job)
3. Who pays delivery to your customer once the sample is in the USA? (if you do this adds cost to your per piece price)
4. Who clears customs, pays duty, pays all exams, inspections, transfer fees, etc at port?  These fees are minimum $349.50 USD per shipment regardless of size without your duty cost.

Order Example:

Your quote if $1.15 Fob Asian port for 576 caps

To this, if you need to send a physical spec sample, you will need to add approx $65 usd divided by your cap quantity to get /pc price($1.26).
Double if you have to send original to the factory to duplicate.

Add Production Shipping at a minimum of $85 divided by your cap quantity to get you new /pc price($1.41).

USA Duty will be about $.095 /pc ($1.515).

USA Customs clearance Broker fees approx. $100 per order.  Again, divide by your cap quantity to add to your running price($1.695).

Port and handling fees are a minimum of $100  regardless the size of your order.  Possible other charges that go with this and happen more often with smaller orders are Custom inspections and exams.  These fees are charged to you by the percentage of the LCL (less than container load) container you occupied.  These can run $50 – $200 depending on whether they do 1,2, or 3  exams.   These costs are always a surprise and come as a separate bill after the fact. Leaving your order at FOB USA PORT with the price over $1.805.

My point being the $1.15 quote has increased a minimum of $.655 per cap and potentially another $.45- $.55 per cap.  If this order was only 288 pc your difference doubles.  (it is possible for an order of 144 caps to incur $2.33 per cap in fees not including your initial price paid to the factory)

If you quote was CIF (freight and insurance paid to port of entry) this only saves you $.11 of this difference the rest you will still pay.

These costs do not take into account the time your company must spend handling these processes.  As you well know time is money.  Each shipment will take 3-6 man hours by the time it is complete and filed away.  What are you paying your staff for this or what is your time worth?  At $15 per hour (very low rate you can add another $.11 to $.22 to your costs.

In reality your $1.15 quote is now over $2.00!  Many time I find this scenario when I have quoted a job at $1.80 FOB Sea Port of Entry and been told we are much higher.   When all costs are factored that we include in our quote you find our price is decidedly less.

Point is……………make sure quotes including the same services.  We can give you our quotes FOB Asian port and or CIF.  We totally understand that you might be very experienced and have some good deals.  I suggest that you analyze your orders and see where these expenses are getting attributed. Many times they are hidden in your frt. costs etc. and do not get properly applied as cost of goods so you see your true cost per piece.

The old saying still rings true!   “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!”

It is a competitive market out there make sure you are getting what you pay for.  At T.C.& B. we understand your investment and we do everything possible to deliver the best possible value for that investment.

T.C.& B.  is not just another cap company.  We do not want to be everyone’s cap manufacturer.  We do want to be yours!

We “ARE NOT” Just another promotional cap company! And here is why……………

1. Spec and pre-production sample ball caps are no charge including freight to deliver them to your door.
2. We do not do virtual or graphic samples we do actual physical ball caps and photograph them for you.
3. Our sample ball caps are fast 1-5 days for photo and about 5 more for physical covers 95%.
4. In most cases we have 1 week production time. We ship orders approved the prior week every Saturday air and ocean. So our 60 day program is 60 days. And our 21 day program is 21 days. Not just arbitrary meaningless numbers.
5. We can also deliver orders in 10 days and sometimes less right to your door.
6. We give each order personal attention to make sure the best possible impression is made.
7. You can pick our standard styles or provide yours. From basic to exotic.

We have no desire to be “JUST ANOTHER PROMOTIONAL CAP SUPPLIER!” or even “EVERYONE’S PROMOTIONAL CAP SUPPLIER”.
We do want to be yours.

See our newly launched 48 pc program. See if “JUST ANOTHER PROMOTIONAL CAP SUPPLIER” can do this!

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We are close to releasing two more new cap programs that are designed to fill additional gaps that will make us your only source needed for headwear.

Coming soon our stock custom bag program, stock customer polo program, our non-woven bag program, and our safety apparel program.

Remember if you have a customer looking for a cut and sew project that has good numbers it is worth your time to get our quote. Our factory group is very skilled and as long as we can source the fabric and materials we will be very competitive.

Have a wonderful weekend and even better sales!

Clark Fessler

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]]> http://journal.tcbcorp.com/index.php/2009/08/27/announcing-new-stock-custom-cap-program/feed/ 0 http://journal.tcbcorp.com/index.php/2009/08/27/announcing-new-stock-custom-cap-program/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TcbJournal/~3/7HdcrE0Y_Xw/ http://journal.tcbcorp.com/index.php/2009/08/01/tcb-vietnam-export-office-is-open-for-business/#comments Sat, 01 Aug 2009 18:16:11 +0000 Clark Fessler http://journal.tcbcorp.com/?p=280 T.C.& B. VIETNAM CO, LTD opened it’s doors July 1st! What this means to our customers in more and more opportunity. New programs will be added very soon. While our main focus is on headwear we are currently working toward the launch of programs in knit beanies and accessories, bags, jackets, polo shirts, safety shirts, koozies, towels and blankets, and tile. All the while, we are enhancing our cap program with new programs, pricing, styles, etc. We also have the ability to source special orders of product if the quantity is sufficient. In addition we can work special cut and sew items with our partner local factories. Our staff on both sides of the ocean are ready to handle your orders. Give us a call and let’s get the sample process started for you. See pictures below of some items that will be available soon.

Stay tuned for launch dates of new programs.

Challenge us with your customers needs. Let us show you what we can do. Let us help you compare true net costs delivered to your customers door. (what you think is a good deal can be deceiving.) There are a lot of tricks and hidden costs in the direct import business. Many of our customers have discovered what they thought was a great deal was costing them money by the time they amortized all their costs.

We are launching our Please Login or Register to read the rest of this content. camo cap program. This is a great opportunity to have camo caps delivered for your customers in time for fall events. Note this Please Login or Register to read the rest of this content. is delivered price on our ocean program. See attached flier for more details.

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Selling hats is what we know. It is what we do. And I believe we do it different and better than anybody else.

During “the slow down” in the economy we have gotten aggressive. We have expanded our offerings, created new styles, negotiated better supply line pricing to bring you the competitive pricing you need to land the tough jobs out there. You can view many of these new styles on our website www.tcbcorp.com.

I will open our Vietnam office in about two weeks. With our new office and favorable import/export license we have the ability to create many exciting opportunities for our customers. It gives us the ability to more effectively source what we need to deliver what your customer wants.

News to many of you is that we manufacture a large quantity of bags as well as our caps. A new non-woven wine bag program is attached to this news letter. Currently our bags are primarily produced at two China facilities. We are testing some Vietnam factories on some potential styles in hopes of utilizing our existing shipping program for both.

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Stay tuned for our Camo special coming next week.

Clark Fessler, CEO

T.C.& B. Corp has just negotiated an excellent freight package with UPS and our other International shipping partners. What this means to you is even more pricing and delivery advantage by teaming with us.

Keep watch on our website www.tcbcorp.com for new options like fabrics, decoration, and patterns. We are constantly producing new ideas to keep up with demand of the end customer.

We are here to part of your team. Let us help you close your sales. We will provide technical support, samples, and the creativity needed to help you reel in the business.

Thank you for your loyalty,

Clark Fessler, CEO

Thank you for your patience.

-Nicholas